How Yoga Changed My Life. Story Of Grumpy Gym Rat.
Yoga is not a sport. Yoga is way of life, it's an ancient wisdom that stayed alive over millenia like no other teaching. Yoga changed my life in so many ways. I took my first yoga class in 2011 and I was hooked since day one. Today I decided to share a few shards of grace it bestowed upon me.
Kuyshu, Japan
1 Yoga made me more flexible.
Seriously, I could not touch my thumbs 6 years ago. It's not only body that flexes though. Benefits of being flexible in your body go way beyond physical realm. Everything is connected with everything else. When your body opens, your mind opens too. Fear patterns are just unreleased (unresolved) energy loops stored in your body. Especially modern men carry so much stress in their hips. Hips take the longest time to open, but it's also the most rewarding part that will make you feel like a new human. For me it took no less than 6 years to be able to sit comfortable in semi-lotus, and it's still work in progress.
2 Yoga made me more accepting
I used to be a super judgemental and opinionated man. Yes my mind still judges and has an opinion just about anything, but yoga enabled me to disassociate my real me from the noise in my head, that runs on auto mode. I learned not to take it too seriously. Yoga is not about the physical poses that much (asanas) as it is about your state of being. If you can stay in a painful pose for few minutes and breathe through the pain until it fades away, then you can do the same with any life situation, without reaction.
On a rooftop in Kathmandu (Nepal).
3 Yoga made me stronger, leaner and more fit
I used to lift weights. A regular gym rat. Not only that- I also ran, swimmed and biked pretty much every day. I considered myself very strong, but the truth is that I had too many muscle cells to feed with oxygen. Now I weight 30 pounds less of muscle than what I used to in my twenties, yet I lift my body, run it, swim it, bike it with greater power and endurance then before.
4 Yoga makes me look and feel younger
I'm pushing 40, but I feel better (and probably look better too), then when I was 25. The fact that I stopped eating meat definitely helped too. Everything is energy. Yoga unclogs the energy channels (meridians) in your body. It connects you to your breath, which is THE key (google Pranayama). Anyone who does yoga knows very well how it feels before and after yoga class. Even 3 rounds of namaskaras (sun salutations, usually an opening sequence of vinyasa yoga) you feel different, and that takes only 5 minutes to do.
5 Yoga makes me paint better
Crazy, but true. In my line of job, it's all about the level of relaxation I can achieve. I am a fire sign in many ways. Always been the go-getter and achiever, the crazy stubborn adventurous Aries. Relaxation was a foreign concept for me the whole life. Yoga gave me the ability to slow down. That, in return, made me paint with less expectations, just for the joy. And anything you do for joy is better than anything you do with vision of success.
Be playful!
6 Yoga made me love my solitude
I don't to yoga in the commercial studios anymore. That was my first 3 years in Vancouver. They serve their purpose, but most are filled with people who just want to look good and get into poses they're not ready for, cause the person on the next mat can do it. My old self called them Lulu Lemon crowd :) Nothing wrong about that, it's fun too. But when I met my yoga teacher (Waylon Belding), and took one class with him in the park, I cancelled my yoga membership right after the class. Since that day, I only practice yoga alone (90% of time) or with my teacher, who is a yogi in each of his actions, not only on the yoga mat. I love my lonely practice. If you can't be happy alone- how can you make anyone happy?
Maui
7 Yoga brought amazing people into my life
Although I practice alone mostly, the times when my teacher happens to be in the same location as me (he teaches worldwide and I'm a chronic traveler too), I meet amazing people from his circle who became my friends. People who don't care as much about look, but about heart. That moment, when we finish a class on a summer day, sun is setting, and we're sharing fruits that we all brought. You can feel the group energy. It's a synergetic field that I just never felt in any commercial studio class. Everybody is just beaming, nobody wants to go home.
My amazing teacher Waylong Belding. Check him out at http://www.zuddhalotus.com/
With my teacher in Hawaii.
Our outdoor class. That "topless" beautiful man between my teacher and me is my beautiful brother Tomas, who became yoga teacher under Waylon's supervision!
8 Yoga made me more loving and grateful
I was not always aware of how much I have to be grateful for. I went through rough times in my childhood, teen and twenties, and that kept me stuck in victim identity. Now I know that all that was an immense blessing from Universe. It was just a lesson I was meant to learn in order to become a better human. And besides, all the suffering was self-created, it always is. Yoga made me love myself and others more. It taught me to touch the peaceful core of my being, that was so hard to access before. On a good day after a good practice, I can literally sit in bliss alone with a candle and feel like the luckiest guy in the world, although nothing “special” happened. Time stops and I just melt into gratitude.
I know I'm lucky!
9 Yoga connects me to nature even more
I don't think that this needs any more explanation. Pictures are enough ;)
Everywhere you go, you take your yoga with you. It doesn't weight anything.
Yakushima. One of the most magical places I've been to.
I could go on and on and on...list is so long.
I hope this is enough to motivate you to start practicing.
My advice: focus on finding the best possible teacher, a real Yogi, not the fanciest or most convenient yoga studio.
Thank you for reading!
Much Yogi Love!
Jan
@jankasparec
This was one class that I could not miss- in a sound club. The DJ took us to nirvana, beyond words!
Do you have any tips for getting through the early-middle stages of starting a practice? I feel like I'm reaching a certain plateau where my body just isn't isn't getting more flexible and I'm discovering less and less...
Read more about yoga that will reveal a whole universe of wisdom, it'll make it more interesting for you. Stay in the poses longer. Way longer than what any commercial class allows, and go deeper with every breath. Play solfeggio frequencies music (tons on Youtube) and start your own practice as a gift to yourself. Make it kinda holy ritual, it will bring it to next level. Learn enough of alignment that you can follow your own intuition instead of doing sequences that everyone does. Start with Pranayama (breathing exercise, even short one) and end with meditation, it will eventually take you to a place where asana is just playground, your peace is the real thing. I do prayers/affirmations after my practice too, it's super powerful - for myself and for whole humanity. Breath breath breath, that's the key. Anything that resonated with you , try it. Thank you for reading @bluethought
Thank you for your wisdom.
Bro I recently started regular yoga and honestly I feel better than ever!
That's so good to hear! keep on going!
I imagine how you feel after yoga might be similar to how I feel after tai chi :)
Funny you mention this:
@bombaybellyrina was just discussing something similar with showoff bellydancing students in a recent post XD
Love the partner yoga poses, reminds me of when I used to do circus, except much calmer XD
It's pretty awesome that you have "round the world" yoga pics :)
Right on bro. Yes Tai Chi is very wise ancient "art" too, totally along the same yogic path. In the end, it's not about the postures at all. It's the about the level of peace that you can achieve if the poses teach you how to transcend your mind. Circus wow! Must have been hard training!
Possibly but i find that kind of thing fun 😉
My sifu makes sure to tell us similar things to what you said as soon as any of the students start wanting to know about what is the "best" or which one is the "original" etc.
Where do you train Tai Chi? I was focusing on Wing Chun for quite some time, and now I am totally hooked on BJJ. Yogi by nature, however ^^
My sifu rents a school hall, we're a very small group XD
I took some mixed martial arts classes in the past. My teacher had traveled a lot and learned his mixed art from several disciplines (karate, kung fu, silat, boxing, etc..). One day I asked him, which is the best martial art in his opinion, he replied: the only masters I wouldn't want to mess around with are Tai Chi masters. These guys can beat you up with their little finger.
People do tend to bring some of their competitiveness to yoga.. it works in martial arts, but it does not compute with the yogic philosophy at all.
That is a very motivational article. Really well done. Upvoted and resteemed bro.
Thanks for the resteem brother! Go @welovesteemit go! Following now.
This post received a 1% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @lichtblick! For more information, click here!
Have you ever met anyone who said they regret having started yoga? I think not! ^^
Powerful @jankasparec!
Yay!! I found this post so encouraging! Some times I see those peak poses and I think I'll never ever get there, but that bit about acceptance was huge! Accepting where I'm at, at this stage in my yoga and not judging or being frustrated at myself for it. Awesome post-encouraging as hell!
Just this this post incidentally.. I think it's important to focus on the easy stuff. No strain, no effort ^^
thanks :)
Interesting. This could be an inspiration and I'm thinking of doing it for myself. Problem is we don't have any yoga class in my place.
Do it on your own. With internet and books you can learn anything these days. Take that step first and things will eventually fall in place @juvyjabian ;) Much Love!
Im considering it though :)
Holy crap you are flexible Jan!
Trying to be Randy :) Thanks bro, it's a hard job but it keeps me flowing @hilarski
The pictures seem to say you practice yoga everywhere. :) @jankasparec
That's definitely the case @bontonstory ! :). Even at the airport! Thank you!